Plagiarism & You

Using quotation marks

T
his guide will show you how to use
information correctly without If you use someone else’s exact words, you need
plagiarizing. You will learn how to to put those words in quotation marks. Changing
recognize plagiarism, and how to tell the a few words here and there is not enough to
difference between plagiarism and appropriate avoid plagiarism. Either put the exact phrase you
use of information in research papers. are quoting in quotation marks, or rewrite it
Using someone else’s entirely in your own words.
words or ideas Plagiarism
Quoting extensively from another source, even if
without properly • Copying sentences, you do it properly, is not appropriate for a
giving credit is phrases or paragraphs research paper. Use quotations to support your
plagiarism. exactly as they appear in arguments or clarify important points, but create
To avoid plagiarism, the original source your own argument using your own words.
there are three • Copying sentences and
important things to putting them in a different Paraphrasing
keep in mind: citing order In a paraphrase, you
your sources, using • Copying sentences and rewrite what someone Paraphrasing
quotation marks, replacing a few words with else has said in your
synonyms • Re-stating the author’s
and paraphrasing. own way. Just as you
idea in your own words,
• Copying sentences and have a personality that using your own voice
Citing Your adding a few of your own is different from
Sources • Summarizing the author’s
everyone else’s, you as
main points in your own
Any time you use a writer have your own words
words from another source, such as a Web site, voice and style. When
book, journal article, or even a friend’s English you write, even when
paper, you must give proper credit to the source. you are paraphrasing, your writing should sound
like it came from you, not from someone else.
Even if you don’t use someone else’s words, but
you refer to an idea or concept from another
source, you must also give credit.
“Citing your sources” means giving all of the
information about your source, such as author,
title, and date of publication, so someone else can
find that source again.

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Plagiarism Examples
The following examples show correct and incorrect ways of citing sources, using quotation marks,
and paraphrasing.
Citing Sources
Following are examples of correct and incorrect
ways to cite sources in research papers.
Research Topic: Truth in Advertising
Incorrect Use
One way corporations try to get ahead of the
competition is by complaining about their rivals’
advertisements. Highly competitive sectors, such as
utilities, telecoms, and airlines, have the highest
incidence of this kind of corporate mud-slinging.
Explanation: The author of this paragraph did
not cite the original source. Although the
words in this paragraph are not copied
directly from the original, the source still
needs to be cited because the information
being discussed came from the original
source.
2
Original Text
Corporate mud-slinging tends to be concentrated
in a handful of highly competitive sectors:
utilities, telecoms (especially the broadband
market), and airlines. These sectors are united by
being highly price-competitive and inclined
toward ads that rely heavily on 'knocking copy' -
content that brags about the brand's superiority
over a rival on the basis of specific criteria.
Source: Murphy, Claire. “The Art of
Complaining.” Marketing. 27 Sept. 2006: 18.
Correct Use
One way corporations try to get ahead of the
competition is by complaining about their rivals’
advertisements. Highly competitive sectors, such as
utilities, telecoms, and airlines, have the highest
incidence of this kind of “corporate mud-slinging”
(Murphy 18).
Murphy, Claire. “The Art of Complaining.” Marketing.
27 Sept. 2006: 18.
Explanation: In this paragraph the author
cites the original source in the text, and
includes the complete reference in MLA style
at the end of the paper. “Corporate mud-
slinging” is in quotation marks because it is an
exact phrase taken from the original text.
Using Quotation Marks
Following are examples of correct and incorrect
ways to use quotation marks in research papers.
Research Topic: Domestic Violence against
Affluent Women
Incorrect Use
Affluent women who are victims of domestic violence
face particular difficulties when seeking legal
recourse against their attackers. The batterer can
afford to hire expensive lawyers who are well-versed
in the intricacies of the judicial system.
Explanation: The author of this paragraph
used an exact phrase from the original text,
“well-versed in the intricacies of the judicial
system,” but didn’t put the phrase in
quotation marks, and didn’t cite the original
source.
Original Text
Cases where the alleged abusers are affluent
create specific obstacles for their victims, experts
say. The batterer— typically a man, though not
always — is often someone well-known in the
community. He has the financial means to hire
pricey attorneys and private investigators. And
his lawyers are well-versed in the intricacies of
the judicial system and can easily win
continuances and drag cases on for years.
Source: Treadway, Joan. “Violence Hits Rich
Women Hard Too.” Times-Picayune 19 Aug.
2002: 1.
Correct Use
Affluent women who are victims of domestic violence
face particular difficulties when seeking legal
recourse against their attackers. As Treadway (2002)
points out, the batterer can afford to hire expensive
lawyers who are “well-versed in the intricacies of the
judicial system.”
Treadway, J. (2002, August 19). Violence hits rich
women hard too. Times-Picayune, p. 1.
Explanation: The phrase that is an exact
quotation from the original text is in quotation
marks, and the author has cited the original
source in the text and at the end of the paper
in APA style.
3
Paraphrasing
Following are examples of correct and incorrect
ways to paraphrase in research papers.
Research Topic: Influence of Genetics on Career
Choice
Incorrect Use
To answer the question of how genetics influence
career choices, researchers have turned to identical
and fraternal twins, with impressive results. They
have found that genetics, in additional to familial
interests, educational, social and other environmental
pressures, have a major impact on how people
choose what they do — and how satisfied they are
with that choice.
Explanation: The author copied most of the
original text and changed or added a few
words, and did not cite the original source.
Copying from a text and replacing a few
words with synonyms constitutes plagiarism
4
Original Text
Increasingly, researchers have been turning to
identical and fraternal twins for answers, with
dramatic results. They are finding that genetics,
in addition to familial interests, educational,
social and other environmental pressures, have a
considerable impact on how we choose what we
do — and how happy we are with that choice.
Source: Segal, Nancy L. “New Twins Studies
Show: The Career of Your Dreams May Be the
Career of Your Genes.” Psychology Today.
Sept./Oct. 2006: 54-60.
Correct Use
Recent research on identical and fraternal twins
indicates that while external influences such as social
pressure have some impact on career choice,
genetics also plays a major role in how people decide
what to do for a living (Segal 54).
Segal, Nancy L. “New Twins Studies Show: The
Career of Your Dreams May Be the Career of Your
Genes.” Psychology Today. Sept./Oct. 2006: 54-60.
Explanation: Here the author paraphrased
the original text by restating the ideas in the
author’s own words, and cited the original
source in MLA style.
You be the judge!
Read the following paragraphs and decide if they have been plagiarized, or if they are appropriate for
a college research paper.
Original
Adult criminals and youth involved in illegal activities have
reported that guns are not difficult to obtain. Illegal or
unregulated transactions are the primary sources of guns used
in violent acts; stealing, borrowing from friends or
acquaintances, and illegal purchasing of guns are the most
common. Less than 1 in 5 guns used for illegal activities were
purchased from licensed dealers.
Source: Page, Randy M. and Hammermeister, Jon. “Weapon
Carrying and Youth Violence.” Adolescence 32.127 (1997):
505-513
Original
It is not difficult to see tomorrow's sophisticated computers
rapidly processing complex data from animals and transmitting
it in a useful form to humans via an earpiece, handheld device,
or spectacle-lens display. Similarly, computers are likely to be
able to translate messages from humans into stimuli that suit
the cognitive style of the intended animal recipient.
Source: Lloyd, Bruce and Susan Clayton. "Doctor Dolittle for
Real? Raising Questions About Interspecies
Communications." The Futurist March/April 2004: 40-43.
Original
The phenomenon of extremely violent video games is a
dubious leap forward in the ability to mainline violence into the
minds and lives of young people. Players of violent video
games are not simply passive viewers of realistically depicted
violence. They instead become the glorified, gun-in-hand, on-
screen perpetrators of murder and other criminal acts.
Source: Worthy, Kym. “Why Violent Video Games May Be
Worse Than Other Media Violence.” Michigan Chronicle 5 Oct.
2005: A1.
Paragraph from a student paper on gun control:
According to Page and Hammermeister, adults and youth
involved in criminal activity have reported that guns are easy
to obtain. Illegal transactions are the main source of guns
used in violence. Stealing, borrowing from friends, and illegal
purchasing are the most common. Less than 1 in 5 guns used
for illegal activities were bought from licensed dealers.
Is this paragraph plagiarized?
¨ Plagiarism ¨ Appropriate use
Paragraph from a student paper
on inter-species communication:
In the future, will humans communicate with animals? Lloyd
and Clayton theorize that the super computers of tomorrow will
be able to transmit comprehensible information from animals
to humans through small devices such as ear pieces.
According to their theory, not only will animals talk to us, but
we will talk back by using computers to translate our speech
into “stimuli that suit the cognitive style of the intended animal
recipient” (42).
Lloyd, Bruce and Susan Clayton. "Doctor Dolittle for Real?
Raising Questions About Interspecies Communications." The
Futurist March/April 2004: 40-43.
Is this paragraph plagiarized?
¨ Plagiarism ¨ Appropriate use
Paragraph from a student paper on violence
in video games:
Worthy claims that players of violent video games are not
simply passive viewers of realistically depicted violence. They
instead become the glorified, gun-in-hand, on-screen
perpetrators of murder and other criminal acts.
Worthy, Kym. “Why Violent Video Games May Be Worse Than
Other Media Violence.” Michigan Chronicle 5 Oct. 2005: A1.
Is this paragraph plagiarized?
¨ Plagiarism ¨ Appropriate use